Italian GP - Friday - Practice Session 1 Report

Schumacher quickest at Monza

With much paddock speculation about Michael Schumacher's future and rumours of a Mercedes move by Lewis Hamilton, the seven times champion showed that he still has it with quickest time (1:25.422) in the first session of free practice at Monza.

Many will remember Schumacher's spirited defence from Michael Schumacher in last year race and Michael will be hoping that the W03 allows him to fight as strongly this time.

Second quickest in the opening session was Spa winner Jenson Button's Mclaren (1:25.723), ahead of Schumacher's Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg (1:25.762). Championship leader Fernando Alonso Ferrari (1:25.800) set fourth best lap before stopping out on the circuit with a technical problem that has yet to be confirmed.

Team mate Felipe Massa (1:25.861), his Ferrari future still unsure, was six hundredths slower than Alonso, with Hamilton (1:25.944) the only other man below 1m26s.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus (1:26.046) set the seventh fastest time. The Finn is joined this weekend by Jerome D'Ambrosio (nickname 'custard') in place of the banned Romain Grosjean. The Belgian finished the session in 15th place on 1:27.180.

The top 10 were completed by Sergio Perez's Sauber (1:26.323), Mark Webber's Red Bull (1:26.390) and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado (1:26.504) who also ground to a halt out on the circuit at the end of the session.